Detection of the position of a moving object and treatment method

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for determining the position of an object moving within a body, wherein the body is connected to markers, a movement signal is determined based on the measured movement of the markers, images are taken from the object using a camera or detector, wherein the camera or detector is moved with respect to the object, it is determined from which direction or range of angles or segment the most images corresponding to a predefined cycle of the movement signal are taken, and using at least some or all of the images of the segment containing the most images for a specified movement cycle, an image of the object is reconstructed.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium on which a program is stored which, when running on a computer of an associated medical treatment apparatus, causes the computer of the associated medical treatment apparatus to perform a method for determining a treatment plan to be used for selective delivery of a therapeutic treatment beam to an anatomical body part moving in a body of an associated patient due to a breathing motion of the associated patient, the method comprising:
 operating the associated medical treatment apparatus at a first imaging frequency to obtain a first dataset describing a first sequence of images describing the anatomical body part of the associated patient which have been taken at different first times during the moving of the body part due to the breathing motion of the associated patient at the different first times, wherein the first imaging frequency defines a first cycling rate of an image acquisition beam directed at the anatomical body part during the breathing motion of the associated patient at the different first times, wherein the first sequence of images comprises a first plurality of segment bins of image sequence portions of the first sequence of images; 
 determining, for each segment bin of image sequence portions of the first plurality of segment bins, a different respiratory state of the breathing motion of the associated patient at the different first times; 
 operating the associated medical treatment apparatus at a second imaging frequency to obtain a second dataset describing a second sequence of images describing the anatomical body part of the associated patient which have been taken at different second times during a moving of the body part due to the breathing motion of the associated patient at the different second times, wherein the second imaging frequency defines a second cycling rate of the image acquisition beam directed at the anatomical body part during the breathing motion of the associated patient at the different second times, wherein the second sequence of images comprises a second plurality of segment bins of image sequence portions of the second sequence of images, each segment bin of image sequence portions of the second plurality of segment bins corresponding to a different unknown respiratory state of the breathing motion of the associated patient at the different second times, wherein the second imaging frequency is an integer multiple of the first imaging frequency; 
 determining, by the processor, a match between two or more of the first plurality of segment bins of image sequence portions described by the first dataset and two or more of the second plurality of segment bins of image sequence portions described by the second dataset; 
 assigning the determined respiratory state of the two or more of the first plurality of segment bins to the two or more of the second plurality of segment bins matching the two or more of the first plurality of segment bins; 
 determining, by the processor, the treatment plan to be used for selective delivery of the therapeutic treatment beam to the anatomical body part during the second times in accordance with the assigned determined respiratory states; and 
 generating, by the processor, an output signal representative of the determined treatment plan, the output signal being operative to control an associated source of the therapeutic treatment beam for the selective delivery of the therapeutic treatment beam to the anatomical body part of the associated patient during the different second times based on the treatment plan. 
 
     
     
       2. The storage medium according to  claim 1 , wherein the second dataset is shifted with respect to the first dataset in time to determine a correlation or matching value as the match. 
     
     
       3. The storage medium according to  claim 1 , wherein the first dataset is a 4D computer tomography (4D CT) dataset. 
     
     
       4. The storage medium according to  claim 3 , wherein a digital reconstructed radiograph (DRR) is reconstructed from each three-dimensional dataset of the 4D CT dataset. 
     
     
       5. The storage medium according to  claim 1 , wherein, when running on the computer, the program stored on the storage medium causes the computer to perform a further step comprising:
 assigning each of the plurality of segment bins of images to a different state of the breathing motion of the associated patient. 
 
     
     
       6. The storage medium according to  claim 1 , wherein, when running on the computer, the program stored on the storage medium causes the computer to perform a further step comprising:
 operating the associated medical treatment apparatus to generate, in accordance with the treatment plan, the therapeutic treatment beam for the selective delivery of the therapeutic treatment beam to the anatomical body part of the associated patient. 
 
     
     
       7. A medical treatment apparatus for determining a treatment plan to be used for selective delivery of a therapeutic treatment beam to an anatomical body part moving in a body of an associated patient due to a breathing motion of the associated patient, the medical treatment apparatus comprising:
 a processor; 
 an imaging device operable by the processor of the medical treatment apparatus at a first imaging frequency to obtain a first dataset comprising a first sequence of images representative of the anatomical body part of the associated patient which have been taken at different first times during the moving of the body part due to the breathing motion of the associated patient at the different first times, wherein the first imaging frequency defines a first cycling rate of an image acquisition beam directed by the imaging device at the anatomical body part during the breathing motion of the associated patient at the different first times, wherein the first sequence of images comprises a first plurality of segment bins of image, sequence portions of the first sequence of images; 
 determining, for each segment bin of image sequence portions of the first plurality of segment bins, being a different respiratory state of the breathing motion of the associated patient at the different first times; 
 wherein the imaging device is operable at a second imaging frequency to obtain a second dataset comprising a second sequence of images representative of the anatomical body part of the associated patient which have been taken at different second times during a moving of the body part due to the breathing motion of the associated patient at the different second times, wherein the second imaging frequency defines a second cycling rate of the image acquisition beam directed by the imaging device at the anatomical body part during the breathing motion of the associated patient at the different second times, wherein the second sequence of images comprises a second plurality of segment bins of image sequence portions of the second sequence of images, each segment bin of image sequence portions of the second plurality of segment bins corresponding to a different unknown respiratory state of the breathing motion of the associated patient at the different second times, wherein the second imaging frequency is an integer multiple of the first imaging frequency; 
 a non-transient memory device storing the first and second datasets; 
 wherein the processor is operative to determine a match between two or more of the first plurality of segment bins of image sequence portions described by the first dataset and two or more of the second plurality of segment bins of image sequence portions described by the second dataset; 
 wherein the processor is operative to assign the determined respiratory state of the two or more of the first plurality of segment bins to the two or more of the second plurality of segment bins matching the two or more of the first plurality of segment bins; 
 wherein the processor is operative to determine the treatment plan to be used for selective delivery of the therapeutic treatment beam to the anatomical body part during the second times in accordance with the assigned determined respiratory states; and 
 a source of the therapeutic treatment beam, the source being responsive to an output signal generated by the processor to selectively generate and deliver the therapeutic treatment beam to the anatomical body part of the associated patient during the different second times based on the treatment plan. 
 
     
     
       8. The medical treatment apparatus according to  claim 7 , wherein the second dataset is shifted with respect to the first dataset in time to determine a correlation or matching value as the match. 
     
     
       9. The medical treatment apparatus according to  claim 7 , wherein the first dataset is a 4D computer tomography (4D CT) dataset. 
     
     
       10. The medical treatment apparatus according to  claim 7 , wherein a digital reconstructed radiograph (DRR) is reconstructed from each three-dimensional dataset of the 4D CT dataset. 
     
     
       11. The medical treatment apparatus according to  claim 7 , wherein:
 the imaging device is operable by the processor at the first and second imaging frequencies to obtain the first and second datasets such that the second imaging frequency is the same as the first imaging frequency or wherein the second imaging frequency is an integer multiple of the first imaging frequency.